It’s natural for many of us in the healthcare industry to want to help others. It’s why we do what we do. We know that the more people we serve, the better and/or healthier their lives can be. To some of us that means growing our businesses so we can reach more people. The way we do that is through marketing.

Over the years I’ve written at least once about many marketing methods most businesses use; web sites, sales letters, post cards, blogs, referrals, patient retention, public relations, networking, word of mouth marketing and more.

There is one, more non-tangible aspect to marketing that is worth discussing. Your involvement in your community. Even more so, your position as a leader in your community.

I am not recommending you get involved in your community just to market your business. There are many more rewards in life besides that. Being involved in your community, and being a respected leader in your community, bring many things to your life such as a sense of fulfillment; respect; contacts; a more balanced life; new skills; joy; variety to your day/life (for you workaholics among us).

Many businesses “get involved” by joining and being active in their local chamber of commerce or other business association. I do these things and I believe they are very important to your business success and personal growth.

What I am talking about is more than that.

I am going to ask you to stretch a little bit here and add to that involvement. I am asking you to do this by searching for a way to help your community that is not altruistic in nature.

Find something to do that you get absolutely no business benefit from. A way to contribute that is one hundred percent YOU giving and where you don’t expect anything in return.

What does this have to do with marketing you may be asking. Spending time and energy on non-business related tasks may at first seem detrimental to your time management challenges. There is always more work to do and not enough time to do it. Frankly that will never go away.

Besides feeling great about yourself for being a good human being, you are sending out a positive energy of giving to the Universe. You must give to receive. For those of you following the Law of Attraction, doing with absolutely no expectation of receiving will allow you to attract more of what you want. Both in your business and your life.

There is an interesting area of internet marketing for the online home based business that is referred to as niche marketing.. While niche can mean different things, it is used here to indicate a very specialized market, a targeted market. Retail stores are an excellent example to illustrate what niche marketing is. A large department store can sell thousands of different products in the same building. A corner store only offers a limited number of products, but it is very likely that these items are limited to a special brand or are unique in some aspect. The home based business can also offer a multitude of purchase opportunities, but is more efficient if practices some focus since the competetion, and the rewards, are so great with respect to internet marketing. That’s exactly how niche marketing works.

Niche marketing is the ideal choice for new internet marketers and home based business opportunity owners who don’t have a lot of money or are limited in time. A major retail store would cost a lot of money for merchandise and require a ton of effort to be put forth. Niche marketing, on the other hand, offers drastically less costs and a much more manageable workload. These things will help someone who is new to this area.

This is how niche marketing works in the home based business opportunity venue. First, you find out what products are needed and what people need them. Then you find out where these people tend to congregate. Forums, interest groups and chat rooms all offer people with a specific interest to get together. Posting to these boards by non-members is often allowed. Know the kind of person you are seeking in a customer and it will be easy to find them online. Join in the board discussions and eventually make a comment about the product you are offering with your home based business and where to find it.

A paid ad on a website that focuses only on the area that your product fits into is another option. Before placing such an add, check out the website and make sure it is a place where you would want your ad. Is it a reputable site? Will they offer a good spot for your advertisement? Is it a site your target audience would actually visit?

If you are into internet marketing in a big way, and have a website of your own, you can always practice your trade by building a new niche web page and promoting it to the first page of the search engines as well.

When you specialize by marketing for a particular niche, you don’t have to contact people in all areas, like walking through an entire department store to get to what you really want, but only those who would be interested in your niche product.

Your efforts aren’t spread out but can be intensely focused on a specific market. This enable you to increase the sales of your online home based business by being more likely to reach those who are interested in your particular opportunity.

In the past few years home based business network marketing has grown and become a major force for helping people who want to work from home in touch with companies that are looking for home based workers. If you are looking for a home based MLM business, then you will find many choices on the internet. Some operations are known as turnkey operations. This just means that a product is bought and resold to another buyer who has visited the seller’s website. The website is generally set up for the seller by the parent company. This kind of market can be a very successful market to get into. This type of home based business network marketing is open to any type of product that you want to sell. The wide variety of products that you can sell is limitless. Most sellers will end up selling products that they themselves are interested in.

MLM, multilevel business marketing, will pay its partners when other people join the team to sell their product. If you want to stop the daily grind of going to work every day, then a home based MLM business opportunity could be just what you are searching for. It can be very appealing to ponder the idea of sitting at your computer at home every day and earn an income; however, it is not a good idea for you to quit your day job just yet. The income you get to start with probably will not be enough for you to survive on. You could start on a part time basis and build your business to a point where you can quit your day job and work from home.

There are a lot of false claims out there about people who earn $50,000 in the first month. Sure, this could have happened, but this is not the norm for the average person. If you come across a business opportunity that claims things like this, then you should run for the nearest exit. Instead, look for a business that promises to train and mentor you so that you can learn the industry you are getting into. Also, you will want them to be up front about how much time it could possibly take to build your sales to a profitable level. Most businesses of this type do require an initial investment in the beginning. The investment should not be a huge amount. If it is, then look at the opportunity before you decide to participate in it. You should check out the Better Business Bureau before committing yourself to one of these business opportunities to avoid getting involved with a fraudulent company.

There are many familiar companies out there that have been home based for many years, such as those that deal in women’s makeup and household products. You no longer have to go door to door, instead, you can set up a website and sell those products from there. You can even be a freelance writer from home.

Home based business marketing is a good opportunity to for people who want to stop the daily grind of going to work every day. But with every business you do need some investment in the beginning and a start-up period. It’s very important to choose a program that provides training and mentoring so that you can grow in the business.